Les Enfants de Refus global

In 1948, some young Quebec artists signed the Manifesto of Global Refusal, an appeal for insubordination proclaiming the “end of multiform fear” and their “savage need for freedom”. But, as is so often the case of those who are ahead of their times, many of them ended up being wounded by an experience which proved stronger than themselves. And they were not the only ones to be affected, as these forerunners were also parents. But no one ever speaks of the repercussions of their actions on the children. Were they part of the “useless chains” which had to be broken loose? As the daughter of the painter Marcel Barbeau, a signatory of the manifesto, the filmmaker has sought to understand. She has thus traced back to the origins and to the period when not only Quebec culture, but also her own identity were founded. Her quest led her to meet Barbeau, Borduas, Mousseau and Riopelle’s sons and daughters. It also enabled her to get to know a man whose sickness had affected neither his sensitivity nor his intelligence, her own brother François, a schizophrenic. Both together or accompanied by witnesses from the period, they recall their childhood days not only of anxiety and abandonment, but also of the inner treasures that only art can afford.